Disney’s Aladdin | Arabian Bites

With Disney’s new live-version Aladdin out in theatres, I thought this would be an excellent time to try a medieval Arabian take on a modern classic. Admittedly I haven’t seen the new version yet. I’m hopeful from seeing the beautiful costuming and set pieces. But I’m also skeptical from listening to the soundtrack. Regardless, the original 1992 animated film still holds a firm grip on my heart for its brilliance in music, writing, acting, and design.

So when the thought of making a recipe inspired by Disney’s golden age of animation‘s ode to the Islamic golden age came to mind, I knew what I had to do. I had to slice, dice, and even make some julienne fries.

Click here to skip to the recipes for Peddler’s Eggplant Fries and Sugared Date & Pistachio ketchup.

Aladdin ‘s Arabian Bites?

So the two scenes from Disney’s Aladdin that inspired this dish are the opening scene with the Peddler and Jasmine’s trip to the marketplace. The peddler attempts to entice the viewer with a supposedly unbreakable combination hookah/coffeemaker that makes fries. Jasmine then encounters a variety of ingredients, including apples, sugared dates, and pistachios.

With my main dish and ingredients figured out, it was time to do some research. Turns out, the story of Aladdin and his lamp, much attributed to the 1001 Nights’ compilation, wasn’t part of its original publication. It and the stories of Sinbad and Ali Baba didn’t join the collection until the 1700s for a European translation and reprint.

Likely written by Syrian storyteller Youhenna Diyab, the story mirrors many events in the man’s life. Like Aladdin and his uncle, he went on treasure-hunting expeditions with French traveler Paul Lucas who claimed magical powers and promised him a place in the French court.

So I suppose you could say that the Disney version is fanfiction of 1001 Night’s fanfiction. While not created from folk tales, however, the story still reflects a setting and elements from the Golden Age of Islam and the Persian Empire. When it comes down to it, though, my goal is to make a dish fitting to the story and Disney’s interpretation.

That’s why I did research specifically into the food served during this era.

A Taste of Agrabah

The oldest surviving Arabic cookbook, Kitab al-tabikh, was compiled in the tenth century by a scribe named Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq from the recipe collections of eighth- and ninth-century caliphs and members of their courts.

So you could imagine, being a new world item, we will not make our fries with potatoes. The funny thing about the cuisine at the time is that vegetarian dishes were not considered “real” meals. They were called muzawwaj, meaning “counterfeit.” I know a couple of you would agree. The view of eggplant at the time, for example, compared its color and bitter flavor to a scorpion and its sting–and attributed it as a likely cause for freckles, sore throat, and cancer.

Interestingly enough, though, eggplant became popular through a dish from Ibn Sayyar’s cookbook called badhinjan buran, or “Buran’s eggplant.” The recipe involved salting strips of eggplant, frying them, then tossing them in garlic and coriander. Sounds a lot like a ninth-century take seasoned fries, right?

So to make the eggplant less “counterfeit” I soaked them in goat stock. I then tossed them in a mix of chickpea flour, kosher salt, ground coriander, garlic powder, and caraway seeds before frying them.

I then made some ketchup in the spirit of the American 1990s. Tomatoes, though used in modern Middle Eastern cooking, were not available in this region at this time. Their use is a callback to the medieval practice of flavoring stews with sour fruit juice such as rhubarb, apple, or grape. That’s why I chose to soak dates and pistachios in apple cider vinegar and soy sauce.

Why soy sauce? It is the flavor-match modern equivalent of murri, a condiment from the medieval Islamic times. Created by wrapping barley in fig leaves then letting them rot and ferment, it sounds disgusting. But apparently, it tastes like soy sauce. I suggest going with soy sauce, though.

Sing For Your Supper!

If you plan to cook the recipe off the site, keep scrolling. However, while access to recipes on the blog will always be free, I now have printable PDF recipe cards and thematic cook-along Spotify playlists as rewards for those who choose to support the blog.

The printable recipe cards and playlist for Aladdin ‘s Arabian Bites will be available as a $2 donor reward on my Ko-Fi page until Sunday, July 7th, 2019, at 8 pm EST.

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You can join my Patreon community at the “Sing for Your Supper” level ($1/month) for access to the playlists or the “It’s All in the Cards” level ($5/month) or higher for access to ALL of my blog recipe cards and playlists. Patrons of all reward tiers will even receive a welcome gift of my Lord of the Rings recipe cards and playlists from January to get you started.

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